The New Age of NE
by nobother
Summary: Minato is alive but where is Naruto. and why is Ne active. Rate T but subject to change.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

XXX

"Well, what happened? One minute it is attacking the next the Sandaime appears does some jutsu and then the Kyuubi vanished. How did he defeat the beast?" asked a haggard looking Shikaku Nara.

"He defeated it using a technique I created. This technique sealed the demon inside someone. It cost the Sandaime his life to perform because it summoned the shinigami. I was going to perform the sealing myself but Sarutobi preempted my attempt and did it himself," was the statement from the Yondaime.

"Who did he seal the beast in?" asked advisor Homura.

"Supposedly he sealed the beast into my son." Most of the council gasped in surprise at the lengths the Yondaime went to protect them. "But the child was missing from the battle field. There were some heavy duty burn marks in the area we found the Sandaime in, supposedly from stray jutsu fired when the beast disappeared. We only confirmed the corpse of the Sandaime from dental records and it is believed that my son was burned completely to ashes. If that is everything I would like to mourn the losses of my wife and child."

Everyone was very solemn at this and quickly left. That is except one man. This man was heavily bandaged and limped over to the young Hokage.

"I know this is not what you expected but I must ask some questions. This seal you designed, are you sure the fox could not come back from it," asked the aged man.

"Danzo, the seal bound the fox and my child's souls together. If one dies they both die, so no, it could not come back from it, at least not for a very long time."

"I see," they newly named Danzo said. "Well one last issue I wish to discuss. I believe we should bring back Ne. With our forces the way they are we would need someone to weaken our enemies and help out our other forces. I can have it operational in three months. I will have 20 chunins and 5 jonin within two years and within ten years we could have nearly 200 chunin and 60 jonin. And while I know these are small numbers compared to our overall forces they would be doing the work of 5 to 10 other shinobi. This is what Konoha needs to survive."

The young Hokage did not like the idea nor did he like the man proposing it. But the man had told the truth. When Ne was operational they did more work and dirtier work than any other group and helped win the Second and Third Shinobi Wars. Yes others had made names defeating large amounts of enemies in those conflicts but Ne had made many of those victories possible by using strategic strikes and pitting enemies against each other.

"I will allow the program to start up on certain conditions. One is that besides the instructors, at sixteen they are to be tested and integrated into the normal forces. Two is you can only recruit from the orphanages and from foreign lands, make them loyal to Konoha though. Thirdly is that if I find out you used Ne as your own personal army and acted against Konoha, I will end you and the program. Are all these rules clear?"

"Crystal. I will begin and I will need some funding until the missions start paying for themselves."

"You will have it. You and I offically know none of this and neither will the council. Understand, Ne will not be seen of or heard of, even in rumors."

"I understand. I will begin immediately. I will recruit the first instructors soon and orphans next. I will not disappoint," and with that Danzo stood and left.

"I just hope I did not sell myself to the devil," said Minato as he stood to leave.

XXXX

Danzo made his way into an underground bunker that had not been used by any normal shinobi for ten years. Ne had been using it for nine and here he was to up the amount of troops he had and he could do so without interference.

"I want as many potential shinobi under the age of four out of the orphanages and in our training facilities within a month. When more children come into the orphanages have them funneled into the program; standard training for all of them. Send out scout group one to search Kiri, Suna, and the lesser countries for the same potential, there should be enough squads in it to make the search in three months time. Have scout group two search just Hi no Kuni's lesser villages for children. Same requirements on all the children from every country, there are to be no exceptions for kekkie genkai or anything else; we will not lower our standards for such trivial reasons. Have instructors ready for all the new recruits. Also prepare for operation New Age, we have a candidate to undergo the procedures and I believe he will survive unlike the others," all this was spoken to the shadows from which came a quick "Hai" before Danzo turned and left.

XXXXX

6 years after Kyuubi

"Ibiki I need you to look into something," said the Yondaime.

"And that would be what Hokage-sama?" came the reply from the heavily scarred man.

"A little know fact is that right after the Kyuubi was defeated I reinstituted Ne so as to even out the imbalance with our shinobi forces. I believe Danzo may have taken my words and run with them, which he was intended to do, but the problem is that I believe he is using the unit as a front to further himself. I need proof without Danzo knowing, that way I can destroy him and hopefully not cause a civil war. I need you to lead a slow and long term investigation of them. Hopefully you will uncover this evidence. Because of the danger this will be an S-rank mission, which you will carry out when not doing your normal duties. Any questions?"

"None Hokage-sama, I will get on this when I believe I can," was Ibiki's reply.

"Good, see that you do."

XXXX

7 years after Kyuubi

"How is New Age coming along?" asked Danzo.

"He is doing well; we can begin treatment 7 tomorrow. He has adjusted as best as possible to what we have given him. That along with his natural enhancements will make him formidable. He has also not been lagging behind the others of his training group, even with his long recovery periods. He is not the best but he is not the worst, but again that is most likely due to the recovery periods," replied a man, with a blank mask on, kneeling before Danzo.

"That is what is expected. How can one be the best when in the infirmary recovering? I am glad though that his natural abilities make it so he is not struggling too much. How is the emotional conditioning?" inquired Danzo.

"Coming along faster than normal actually. This is due to the pain caused by the treatments, to endure them he is pushing his emotions away and we are helping to get rid of them. I suspect in 6 years they will be gone entirely, two years before anyone else."

"Good, speed it up if you can, I want a lot of use out of him before I lose him to the normal program."

"Are you not keeping him?"

"No, he will represent how formidable Ne shinobi are compared to normal shinobi. Eventually we will use him to eliminate the Hokage and I will take up his position. Will he be able to pass on his traits though?" said Danzo.

"He may be able to after all the treatments and some years for his body to fully adjust to them, not just be fit for use operational. I would say that by age 18 he could beget children with his enhancements."

"Good. Make sure to have reliable kunoichi picked out for this purpose," was the last thing Danzo said before he left to go take care of an arrogant clan using their own clan's genius. (Uchiha Massacre).

XXXXX

12 years after Kyuubi

"I want a C-rank mission and I want it now. Why can't you see that D-ranks are getting us no experience?" cried a frustrated Uchiha.

"Does your sensei think you are ready?" asked the Hokage, expecting that his student Kakashi would say no and make Team 7 do another D-rank.

"Actually I believe they are ready. I mean I have Sasuke and Sakura. And while a two man team is not common I believe they can handle it," was Kakashi's reply.

"Fine, I will allow it if you take Kurenai's Team 8 along with you. Meet the client at the East gate in three hours," sighed the Hokage.

"Hai," was his only reply.

XXXXX

"You are to go the Nami no Kuni. There is a missing-nin there by the name of Zabuza Momochi. You are to kill him. We believe he has an accomplice with a kekkie genkai. Capture the accomplice and bring them back here. While there you are to also eliminate a man named Gato. He is interfering with trade in the region and is causing us to lose money. Get as many of the bank accounts and savings as you can. You will have three weeks to complete this task, do you understand?" stated Danzo.

"Hai," was his reply from the stooped figure in front of him. Grey hair and pale skin was all you could see outside the standard ANBU attire and blank mask.

"Good, leave immediately number 0054, be swift," was all Danzo said before his new operative left. Knowing that his New Age project could not be stopped.

XXXXXX

AN: Who is the 0054, or New Age?

Even I don't know.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

XXXXX

"So, what happened? I sent you guys on a supposedly easy C-rank and you come back beaten and bruised saying stuff about a rouge swordsman and mysterious shinobi with ice abilities," asked the impatient Hokage.

"Well sir it started out fine. The teams fought a little bit, nothing serious, just squabbling. On our way there we were jumped by some chunin missing-nin. Kurenai and I allowed the genin to handle it to test them and to astern who they were after. Turns out they were after the bridge builder. The genin wanted to continue so we chose to despite the increased danger," stated Kakashi.

"And this decision was because the genin decided it. Why did you let them choose?" inquired the blonde.

"We believed that it would not get to much dangerous and that since they showed they could handle the danger that it would not be a problem, especially if there were two jonin along with them," was Kurenai's reply.

"What happened next?" was the blonde's weary question?

"We had made it to Nami and were near a lake when we were ambushed by Zabuza Momochi. I attempted to engage but was captured. Kurenai had been rendered unconscious beforehand protecting her students; the handle of Zabuza's sword hit her when he threw it at us. The genin were able to free me and I again fought Zabuza and was about to kill him when a hunter-nin supposedly killed him with senbon needles. I was nearly exhausted from the fight and did not notice until later but the hunter-nin had only knocked out Zabuza and had not burned his body. This hunter-nin turned out to be Zabuza's accomplice. I passed out due to chakra exhaustion and when I woke up we were in wave at the client's house. We proceeded to train our genin as best as we could for the upcoming battle. It was during this time I felt like I was being watched, though I could not tell from were," said Kakashi.

"So what happened at the battle?"

"The battle was not going as planned. Kurenai and I were to double team Zabuza while the genin took on his friend. However Zabuza had enlisted several other missing-nins to help out. They were all weak, low chunin at best, but there were enough of them that I took on Zabuza alone, while Kurenai did range support for everyone on our side. Sasuke and Kiba were designated to take on the fake hunter-nin, who possessed a kekkie genkai to control ice, although the hunter-nin eventually knocked them out. During my fight with Zabuza I was blindsided by one of the other missing-nin. Before either could finish me off the one nin that blindsided me was dead and Zabuza was fighting someone new," continued Kakashi.

"What did this person look like?"

"Kakashi passed out soon after the new person joined but I got a good look at him. He appeared to be 16 or 17 years of age, short, straight grey hair, wore standard ANBU uniform except no sword and had a blank mask. He appeared highly skilled seeing as he faced off against several missing-nin at once, once of them being Zabuza. He killed with ease, though I saw no weapons, later evidence showed he was stabbing them with something. The only person he did not kill was the accomplice of Zabuza, that person was rendered unconscious by a blow to the back of the head and then seemingly sedated with some substance by our savior. It was about this time that Gato, the financier of the missing-nin, showed up with some bandits to try and finish us off. The mystery-nin slaughtered them and then took Gato's and all the missing-nins heads and sealed them in a scroll. He then took Zabuza's sword and sealed it into another scroll. I attempted to talk to this person who saved us but he just grabbed the unconious ice user and left," was Kurenai's final comment on the report.

"And then you all just came back home?"

"After two days of rest and in which the bridge was finished, yes. We made all due haste here to see if you had any information on this person who saved us," replied Kakashi.

"I believe I know where he is from but I cannot divulge that information at this time," was the Hokage's curt reply.

"He was Ne wasn't he? You did start that program up like the rumors say. That must be where we are getting all those new ANBU recruits," was Kakashi's exclaimed reply.

"Yes, but you can't tell anyone, plus from your description this person should not be in Ne any more. But I will deal with that. Now you will inform you genin of a three day holiday of no training or missions and then you can start up again, ok."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," was his reply as the poofed away.

"Now for Danzo."

XXX

Several hours later

"Danzo, an operative of yours was spotted near Nami no Kuni. What was he doing there?" asked the blonde man.

"He was there for several reasons. One; he was to eliminate missing-nin Zabuza Momochi and obtain his accomplice, who supposedly had a kekkei genkai. Two; he was to eliminate Gato who was hindering trade in the region and therefore Konoha's trade. Three; he was to obtain any wealth Gato had, so as to secure more funding for my program, as you know we have been self-sufficient for five years now and hopefully after a few more missions we can actually put money into Konoha's coffers. That is why he was in Nami. Why did you ask?"

"He was spotted by two genin teams and their jonin sensei. You promised me it would remain a secret."

"And it has for all these years, but rumors will eventually get out. I suggest that you call it an advanced ANBU training program and leave it at that," was Danzo's remark.

"I probably will. Another thing though, the jonin believed the person to be at least sixteen. Why is this agent not out of the progam?" inquired the Hokage.

'Damn' thought Danzo. I can't tell him what we did to him otherwise he will cancel the whole program. Guess it is time to reveal New Age to the world.

"He is due to be released in two days. This was his last mission with us. I was going to put him up for an instructor but you want him don't you?"

"Yes, he seems very powerful. We could use him to further our standing in the shinobi world. Plus I believe I have the perfect spot for him. Also what of the person he abducted?" asked the blonde?

"She is due to wake up in a day or two, afterwards we were going to see if she could be molded into a Konoha shinobi, she is not fit for Ne but for standard duties yes, plus she would bring a new kekkei genkai to our village."

"See that she is turned over to the hospital staff. I will have our best psychologists and doctors look her over. And I want this other shinobi in my office in an hour."

"Hai, it will be done."

XXXX

"0054, I know you need to recover from the latest treatment but you are to present yourself to the Hokage in half an hour. You are in his care. I told this would happen and it is, just earlier than expected. Do not forget where you came from though. You are Ne and will lead us into a new age. Your name on this assignment will be Naruto Uzumaki, after the Hokages lost child. Leave now, we will contact you when necessary," was the last thing Danzo said to the newly named Naruto.

"Hai," was the reply before 'Naruto' disappeared.

XXX

"So, you are the person who saved the genin and their jonin sensei. You must be powerful to have done what they said," started the blonde Hokage.

When he saw no response coming from the teen he continued. "So, will you remove the mask and tell me your name," ordered the Hokage.

The teen took off the Ne mask and faced the blonde man. The teen was about 5'10" which was on the tall side for his age, which the Hokage put at 16. He had straight, short cropped silver hair along with dark blue, almost dark purple, eyes. His lean face was accentuated with faded scars on each cheek, making look like he had whiskers, adding a slightly feral appearance.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki. I am at your command," the teen spoke in an amusingly light voice that held no emotion. While you could tell the speaker was male, it had a song like quality to it that caused the listener to be shocked, especially when known that the speaker was a seasoned ninja.

"I see. Well you will have to prove that you strong enough for rank. Usually that is done through a series of fights to test your skills. I have decided to go an alternate method. I will assign you a mission, if this mission is complete to my satisfaction then you will be ranked as chunin for a six month period before taking the jonin trails, does that seem fair?"

"Hai, if that is what you desire Hokage-sama," again with the voice.

"I will have a jonin pick you up at your house tomorrow and explain the details and prepare you for your mission. Here is you apartment address and keys for it along with your first two months rent and food is already inside. You are dismissed."

"Hai," was the last thing Minato heard before 'Naruto' poofed out of the office.

"So Kakashi, what do you think?" asked the blonde as the silver haired jonin came in the window.

"He is very powerful. I felt chunin reserves, but it seemed like he was suppressing quite a bit of chakra to achieve that. He was aware of my presence but didn't feel threatened and that voice of his may cause some kind of genjutsu to form, but that is speculative. So what are you going to do with him?"

"He will join your team for the genin exams. I know the council wants the Uchiha to fight and so he will, but you need a three man squad to do that. He will be acting as you third team member and the Uchiha's body guard until the final round. He will insure that your team will pass first and second test, after that it is up to them. He will most likely be chunin before the third part if everything is ok. While he is under your watch try to get a feel for his abilities. We are building files on all the old Ne operatives, that way we can deal with them if Danzo tries something. Pick him up tomorrow and get him some clothes and talk with him, dig for any details of his training, I think he is special, I mean why else would Danzo taunt me with the name of my dead son," said the Hokage.

"Hai, I will do my best," was his only reply.

XXX

"Sir, I have something to report on that matter I was to look into," said Ibiki as he walked into the Hokage's office.

"Oh and what is that?"

"I've been working with some of the old Ne operatives that we have broken from the conditioning and asking for information. Well during their time there they heard some things about a project called New Age. It was suppose to be their ultimate creation. I use these terms because it may have started human but is not any more according to them. One of the operatives was on assignment with New Age and said that it was death incarnate."

"And how long have they been working on this project?" asked the Hokage hoping to have some solid evidence against Danzo.

"Supposedly twelve years, ever since the Kyuubi attack. I think I can sneak someone in to the records room to try and get more information if need be," replied Ibiki.

"Do that, this project could be a threat; I want it stopped before it can do too much harm. Am I understood?" the Hokage said.

"Hai, give me a few days to get the information," said Ibiki before leaving.

XXXXX

AN: Is Danzo just being sadistic with the name?

What will the Hokage find out about New Age?

What other secrets are hidden by Ne?

Why is 0054 so powerful?

Maybe i'll tell you later, or not.

I'll address any complaints next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

XXX

Morning came quickly for Naruto. It was still gray out and he had risen from his bed and prepared himself something to eat. He then did a light workout inside the somewhat spacious apartment and did meditation and charka control exercises until his escort would arrive, seeing as he was never given a time that said person would arrive.

About ten in the morning there came a knock on the front door. Naruto opened the door to find a man with spiked silver hair, standard ANBU jonin attire and a hait-tie covering one eye. Kakashi meanwhile was sizing up his new pupil. Naruto wore a black sleeveless shirt that hugged his body, standard forest camouflage ANBU pants with kunai and shiriken holsters on both legs along with senbon holsters on the back of his belt and black shinobi sandals with his hai-tie on his left arm. Naruto's hair was cropped short in a slightly longer version of a crew cut.

"You are to escort me in shopping, am I correct," inquired Naruto.

"That is correct; I am also to be your jonin sensei for the brief period you are with my team. This adventure is to get to know each other," Kakashi said as he led the younger man out of the building and into the streets towards some shops he knew about.

As they walked down the streets several shinobi sighted them and were curious as to whom the person with Kakashi was, exactly. Three of these were Kurenai, Asuma and Anko who had met up at a dango stand and were currently eating on the outside veranda.

"Kakashi-kun, who is that hottie with you," yelled a smirking Anko.

"Don't tell me you found someone besides me, I don't want to share," Anko continued to tease.

"Oh, hello Anko, Kurenai, Asuma. What are you all doing here," Kakashi replied back as he walked over, followed shortly by Naruto.

"Kakashi, who is your friend there, I don't think I have met him before," asked Asuma.

"Well, Kurenai knows of him, this is to be my third genin, although I am sure he will only remain such until the exams in a month or so."

"What do you mean, I didn't know you got a third genin or who he is," came Kurenai's reply as the other two looked at her.

"Oh sure, he was there on our last party together. He sort of crashed it and just left before you could say hi," was Kakashi's reply.

Kurenai's eyes widened at the implication of what Kakashi just said. She felt a wave of fear go through her knowing her genin may have to fight him in the exams coming up. She was reconsidering letting them enter after hearing this little bit of news.

"You will take precautions when he enters the exams won't you," was her only response.

"Yes, I will make sure he does nothing to allies. But I have to get him ready to meet the team tomorrow, so goodbye now," said Kakashi as he led Naruto away.

"What has you in a fluster, Kurenai-chan. Are you scared of that hunk with Kakashi," asked Anko.

"I told you about my last mission right," she asked getting nods. "I believe Kakashi just told us that that genin is the one who saved us and he will be in the exam with Asuma's and my genin. Think of what he would do to our teams?"

The other two were dumb struck thinking of the implications. They knew that the mission to Nami no Kuni only succeeded because of some strange ally that Kurenai said was Ne. With him now in the exams that would lead to some mighty bad times for the other genin, especially if he killed as easily as Kurenai claimed he did.

"Oh, shit," was all Asuma said.

XXX

Kakashi and Naruto had found a store and after buying more basic weapons they proceeded to the clothing section. Kakashi handed several outfits to Naruto for him to change into. Unfortunately Naruto began to change in the middle of the store. Kakashi quickly pushed him into a dressing room and told him to change in there from now on.

Naruto eventually came out in a dark red t-shirt with a green Konoha swirl on the front. He had kept his pants and sandals but had put on a dark brown trench coat.

"This attire will suit the purpose, am I not correct" inquired Naruto in his distinctive voice?

"Yes, that will do, although you may think of other colors besides red, you know variety."

"What would you suggest?"

Kakashi handed him similar shirts in blue, green and black. Naruto took all of them to the counter for purchase. Kakashi giggled at the reactions Naruto was getting from the female cashier and evens some of the kunoichi customers. Naruto remained oblivious to all of these and just pondered what he was to do after he was done.

As they were leaving the store Kakashi remembered that he wanted to have Kurenai check out Naruto's voice and see if there was any genjutsu going on when he spoke.

He quickly led Naruto back towards the dango stand hoping to catch Kurenai while she was still there. Surprisingly she and Anko were still there.

"Ah, sorry to be a bother but could I talk to you for a second Kurenai," Kakashi asked?

"Sure," was his reply as she got up and left Anko and Naruto alone.

_Kurenai and Kakashi_

"So, what do you need to say," inquired Kurenai?

"I need your help with the kid, when he speaks I believe a genjutsu is being caste, but I need your help with it," came the reply.

"Sure, let us go speak with him and I'll check it out."

_Anko and Naruto_

"So, did you really fight with Zabuza and a bunch of other missing-nins?" was Anko's question for the mystery in front of her.

"I cannot say; it is classified."

Anko was struck by how strange his voice was and wondered on how it sang to her.

"So, sit down and have some tea. We should discuss our trade. I like torture and poison, what about you" was Anko's idea of a conversation starter.

"I am not impartial to my method of killing, as long as it is efficient and ensures death," the strange sounding response.

"Is that so, how about your method of interrogation?"

"I find that the best method to extract information is to cause pain with genjutsu, no physical damage and it is easy to stop the pain when you are ready to dispose of the target."

"But that defeats all the fun of torture," Anko pouted.

"Torture is not suppose to be 'fun' as you say. Its purpose is to extract vital information in a timely manor. Besides, how would one tell if you are having 'fun.'"

Anko felt herself wanting to be closer to the younger male and was slowly doing it by moving across the table.

"Fun is were..."

"Anko, Anko, Anko," was the call of Kurenai as she came back to the table a saw her friend leaning over the table towards the grey haired teen. Kurenai quickly jolted Anko's system with chakra to throw off any genjutsu. Anko sat straight back and looked like a gaping fish.

"What happened," she asked?

"Nothing, we were just confirming a suspicion of ours," replied Kakashi as he hurried to remove Naruto before Kurenai could tell her what really happened and he was out one student.

An angry curse filled stream of very violent sounding tortures where heard about a minute later coming from the dango stand, all emanating from one very mad snake user. But despite her wanting to rend a little flesh from the grey haired teen's bones she also wanted to finished what was interrupted by her friend. This fact not only disturbed Anko but also seemed to calm her from her otherwise murderous rage.

XXX

"What was that," asked an irate Kakashi?

"What was what? I believe I was having a conversation," was the reply.

"What about the genjutsu you caste upon her?"

"That is the normal response to my voice when talking to the opposite sex. It makes infiltration easier," was his reply.

"How did you do it though?"

"I cannot say; that is classified."

"Fine, just try to refrain from speaking to members of the opposite sex while under my command," said Kakashi as he sighed about all the trouble he would receive from a student who could seduce almost any kunoichi just by speaking with them. Then Kakashi giggled pervertedly at all the fun he could have at the same time.

"Hai."

"Be at training ground 7 at noon tomorrow to meet the other team members, do what you want until then," said Kakashi as he walked towards the Hokage tower.

"Hai," was the response he heard from behind.

XXX

Ibiki was not having a good night. Yesterday he had to plan an operation to get into Ne headquarters and sneak as much information out as possible, specifically any information on project New Age. The operation was successful in the fact that a lot of data was recovered, but the problem was that all of it was on New Age. The operative he had inside said that there was one whole room of filing cabinets filled with information on the project. Because of that he had to stay up all night and get a summary ready for the Hokage by the next morning. He knew this information was vital, which was why he was personally going through it all, so as not to miss anything and to make sure that as few people knew about what was discovered as possible.

XXX

Ibiki was finally able to make his preliminary report to the Hokage at 11:00 a.m. the day after the infiltration, the same day Naruto was to meet his new team.

"Hokage-sama, I have my initial findings on New Age," Ibiki said as he walked in.

"Well that was fast; I figured the planning of the operation itself would take longer."

"It did, but I had many plans already in place, I just had to specify which one was needed and add some atlerations."

"Well, what did you find?"

"Firstly is that whoever this project is should be dead. I have about twelve years worth of medical files and instruction reports on this person and it is awful. When he was three months old they began 'treatments' on the kid. They artificially enhanced chakra growth and his pathway expansion. Over the next eleven years they induced different kekkei genkai and 'enhancements' unto him. They also forced emotional training onto the child; one report stated he took to losing his emotions faster than his peers to make it easier for him to go through the treatments. All the while he was forced to also keep up in his mental and physical studies. According to his reports in those areas he excelled when healthy but was overall average because of the amount of time he spent undergoing these 'treatments'. He started missions when he was eight and is now twelve, although most would probably guess he was older."

"Why would anyone think he was older?" asked the blonde.

"He was given growth hormones and other chemicals to accelerate his age, although they stated that 'through his own special power, he will most likely stop aging when physically age 25.' Why that is was not stated in the medical files. Other affects on his physical appearance is eye and hair color were altered. There was also a note of birth marks fading but still visible. One report stated that they were unable to make his skin tan or burn any more, meaning that no matter how often he was outside he would remain pale."

"Is this enough evidence to take down Danzo?" asked the enraged blonde; enraged that anyone would do this to another human.

"Not quite, give me six months to a year and I will have what is needed."

"Hokage-sama, oh, sorry, didn't know you had a visitor," said Kakashi as he came in the door.

"That is alright Kakashi, what did you need," replied the tired blonde.

"Oh, I was just going to inform you that yesterday I discovered something on the Ne shinobi you assigned me."

"And that was?"

"He caste a genjutsu while having a conversation with Anko. It made it to where Anko almost kissed and possibly would have had sex with him right then and there. He did this by speaking with her, nothing else. He stated it happened with every female and that it was used for infiltration. He did not tell me how he gained this ability."

"Hokage-sama, there was something in the medical files of New Age about rewiring the chakra system in the vocal chords to induce illusions. This could be the inactive form of this procedure," stated Ibiki.

"Do you mean to tell me that project New Age and this 'Naruto Uzumaki' are one and the same," asked the blonde man?

"It fits, before I was interrupted, I was about to say that New Age underwent one last treatment about half a week ago and then was discharged. Nothing new was reported, which is strange because as long as he was in base a new sheet was added every two days," said Ibiki.

"Kakashi, I want you to double your efforts to find out this operative's abilities. He is meant to be Danzo's secret weapon against us; he was specifically tasked with taking me out. Ibiki, hand over everything you think relevant to Kakashi when you can. Try to bring out emotions in this kid, we can still turn him, can't we?"

"Possibly sir," said Ibiki.

"Good, now Kakashi, go meet your team," and with that the blonde went to let out some of his frustration in the Hokage's private training facility.

"He's mad, isn't he," stated Kakashi.

"Yeah, I don't want to be Danzo when it comes time to take him down."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

XXX

Naruto sat at his new training grounds contemplating what he could do to complete his mission. He would need to guarantee that his subject, Sasuke Uchiha, would pass the first two tests in relatively good condition. Furthermore he had to bring the Uchiha up to par so that if there were preliminaries he could pass. Naruto himself planned to make it past the second round and forfeit his match, whether it was in the preliminary round or in the finals. His mission was to make sure the Uchiha made it to the third round and nothing else. Naruto meditated to check his chakra flow since his newest enhancement from Danzo-sama.

Sasuke came to training ground 7 and observed a grey haired teen sitting on one of the training logs in a meditative pose. The teen looked older then himself and also was dressed like some in some very generic shinobi clothes. He decided to wait and see if this stranger would present himself or wait until his teammate got there.

"Oi, who are you?" yelled his teammate from behind his back.

Sakura was confused as to why a somewhat handsome older boy was doing at her team's training ground. No one else was supposed to use this area unless they were coming to work with her team. The fact that Kakashi-sensei had not told them that was happening caused her to yell at this new comer.

"He is your new teammate for the duration of the chunin exams. He is here to participate and advance in rank," said Kakashi as he used the _Shunshin no Jutsu_ to get into the clearing.

"Why do we need him?" asked Sakura.

"The test is for three man teams only. He is an older genin that needed a team and so the Hokage placed him on our squad until the exams are over. We will practice team exercises to get accustomed to the new member in the mornings and then we will spar individually for the afternoon."

"So you are entering us into the chunin exams? Then why would the Hokage give us a useless teammate?" complained Sasuke.

"Why do you believe he is useless?" asked Kakashi.

"Well he is several years older than us by appearance and yet still is a genin. How could he not be weak if he has not passed a simple test?" said Sasuke.

"I have never taken these exams," Naruto spoke for the first time as he got off the log and approached the rest of the team.

"What is up with your voice?" asked Sakura.

Naruto remained quiet, remembering his orders from Kakashi. Sakura thought he was ignoring her and so reached out to punch his 'egotistical head,' in her opinion. What she was not expecting was for Naruto to grab her wrist and twist it behind her and have his arm around her throat cutting off her air supply.

"Naruto! Drop her now," ordered Kakashi. He was worried for Sakura's continued existence and was impressed by the speed with which Naruto had taken her out.

"Hai," was Naruto's quick reply before dropping the struggling Sakura. As Sakura continued to gasp for air as Naruto was told to not harm his new teammates in such a way again. When Sakura was able to speak again she was told to not attack Naruto again and also told that he was following orders by not speaking to her.

"Why can't he talk to me and how is the team to function if we can't communicate?" asked an irate Sakura while rubbing her throat and glaring at Naruto.

"He doesn't talk to women because his voice has 'affects' on them. If he needs to say something he will speak to the team as a whole with as few words as possible. If you say something to him he will nod," Kakashi glanced at Naruto to get confirmation," to tell you he understood. Now I know this will be awkward but it is just for a week before the exams and the exams themselves. You can deal with it for that long."

"Fine, so what should we do now?" said Sakura.

Kakashi explained the exercise they were to do and the team set out. They were to run an obstacle course that had several traps and other diversions. They had to do it with chakra suppression seals lining the whole course. Sasuke tried to take up position as leader but Naruto showed that he had experience with this kind of training with how he ran it. This led to an awkward situation in the trap lined maze portion when Naruto broke one way and the other two ran the other. Naruto went back and 'saved' his team from a few traps. He then proceeded to knock them out and drag them through the course. Kakashi smacked himself in the face when he saw Naruto carry the other team members and still complete the course in a decent time.

"Naruto, why are they unconscious?"

"They did not follow my lead, despite the fact I had not led them astray. I went back for them and saw them setting off several traps at once. I proceeded to 'save' them. But in an actual mission they most likely would have been at least rendered unconscious, so I proceeded to afflict them as such to make the test more realistic. I then completed the course without leaving them behind."

"Well, if you had not detoured or knocked them out you could have beaten the course record, although it is just set at chunin level," remarked Kakashi.

"I will do better in the future," claimed Naruto who felt he had failed.

"Given the circumstances you did very well. Next time though do not knock out your team. Can you please wake them up now?"

"Hai," said Naruto as he did a one-handed seal for a small (suiton) jutsu.

The other two teens sputtered awake. Both had similar thoughts of killing one grey-haired boy. Sasuke was thinking of how easy the test seemed to Naruto and was wondering what power he may have. Sakura was wondering how the teen could be so callus to others. He just seemed so aloof from everyone else. It didn't even seem like he was trying to make this team situation work, like it was just an assignment.

"Well, that could have gone better. Let us move on to sparring," said Kakashi. He decided to pit Naruto with Sakura. Whoever won that match would be pitted against Sasuke.

"Ok, no crippling blows," Kakashi got a nod from Naruto. "Ok, begin."

Sakura smirked and ran at Naruto to try and catch him with a right hook. Naruto simply grabbed her wrist and fell backwards onto his back. Sakura was dragged with him. Naruto's feet met her stomach and then she was airborne. The next thing Sakura knew was that she was hammer fisted down towards the ground. A clone Naruto created caught the unconscious konoichi.

"Well, Naruto won. Sasuke step into the ring," called Kakashi as he grabbed Sakura and set her down to rest.

When the match was signaled to begin Sasuke threw some shuriken with wires attached. Naruto didn't move and as the wires were going to tighten around him they suddenly were cut. Sasuke decided to activate his sharingan to see what happened. Faster than he could see Naruto was in his face. Sasuke blocked as many of the multitude of punches as he could. One got in his guard and he was sent flying back towards some trees. He righted himself and looked for Naruto. He jumped right as some hands flew out from underneath him. But as he fired of a fire ball towards the hole Naruto had popped out of. Naruto did nothing but go up in smoke. Sasuke grinned thinking he had won until a fist connected with his back causing him to let out a silent scream. Naruto then shoved a sebon into a pressure point to knock him out.

"Naruto wins again," sighed Kakashi. He really didn't expect much different. Naruto was Ne trained but he did think that after what happened earlier that both his students would be more cautious.

"Well, I'll watch these two until they wake up. How about you go get some food, we are done for the day."

"Hai."

It was going to be a long week, thought Kakashi as Naruto jogged away.

XXX

Over the course of the week Kakashi tried to learn more about Naruto. Nothing was forthcoming. The spars and teamwork exercises told him very little. He knew Naruto was physically tough and that came off during their training. He displayed very few jutsu and no enhancements past his strange voice. His stamina was one of his more impressive attributes. He could out last any of them and the few time that Kakashi tested him on genjutsu showed he was unaffected by any that he knew of. Kakashi was left with nothing spectacular to report to the Hokage and it made him a little irate that this kid could do that to him. He waited for his team to show up at the academy testing room pondering all he knew about Naruto and New Age.

Naruto was thinking on his most recent orders from Danzo-sama. He knew that the mission he was assigned could go several ways but trusted that Danzo-sama would not do uncalculated risks with his men. He also realized that since meeting the 'team' he was assigned he was finding some emotions, he had reported this through standard protocol and informed them that he was feeling exacerbated and feeling undue annoyance towards his 'team.' He acknowledged his 'team' as they approached him near the entrance of the academy. When they got to the second floor the Uchiha blurted out that there was a genjutsu. Naruto had to control himself to not smack his subject for making his task infinitely more difficult. As the Uchiha was challenged by an older genin Naruto finally had enough. He grabbed the Uchiha's wrist and dragged him to the testing room, much to his 'teammates' annoyance.

Kakashi watched as a slightly irritable Naruto drag a struggling Sasuke as a pissed off Sakura followed. It amused and worried the copy-nin that Naruto's first outward show of emotions was annoyance at his team members. Amused because of what emotion came out and who the emotion was directed toward; worried because he didn't know if Naruto could handle emotions and may act on them, which could end with his other two teammates dead.

"You guys a running a tad late, but so is the proctor. Head inside and settle down," said Kakashi.

XXX

AN: Next chapter is the first and second exams.

Fill out my poll at my site.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

XXX

As Naruto and his group entered the class room and a large amount of foreign shinobi looked towards them. Naruto dragged his group to a corner to sit down and be out of the way. Naruto wanted this to go as easy as possible. He wanted this assignment to go smoothly but for that to happen he had to make sure his 'team' passed.

As Naruto sat there his 'teammates' walked over to the other rookies and began talking to them. Naruto saw an older silver haired genin approach them and reprimand them for their behavior. Naruto suddenly smelled snake and it seemed to be coming from the silver haired genin. Naruto walked on over to see what was happening.

"Tell me about Gaara, Rock Lee and Naruto Uzumaki," said Sasuke.

"No fun, you know their names. Ok, Gaara has been on 20 D, 3C and 1B rank missions. The only thing to note besides that is that he has never been injured. Rock Lee was last year's dead last. He has no ninjutsu or genjutsu I am aware of. His taijutsu is off the charts for a genin. And finally Naruto; says that I have no information on him other than he is a genin; everything else has been classified," said the older boy.

"That is good, because if you had information on me I would have to kill you," Naruto spoke softly with his unusual voice into the other boy's ear. All the rookies tensed as they hadn't noticed Naruto move. Naruto then stood up and turned to the sound genin. "You may want to back off, the instructor is almost here and we can't have fighting."

A large man with several assistants arrived vie _Shunshin_ in at this moment.

"Shut up and sit down now. The first exam is going to begin."

When everyone was assigned seats and were sitting the instructor that Naruto noticed as Ibiki Morino of the ANBU T&I department. Naruto was supposed to memorize all available information on ANBU so that he could deal with them when it became time to enact the operation protocols. As Ibiki explained the test Naruto was curious as to why they would have such an intricate testing system for rank. Why not just assign a series of missions that will test them in all areas. If they failed they did not deserve the rank, it was simple and allowed for money to flow into the village not out with these elaborate tests.

"You may begin," yelled Ibiki. As Naruto flipped over his test and read the questions he realized that his test was different than all the others. Using some of his enhancements he concluded that while everyone else was answering questions of chunin and low-jonin difficulty, his test was the ANBU entrance exam with slightly more difficult problems. This eliminated his ability to cheat, not that he would need it for the chunin questions.

Thinking of how to rectify his problem without giving away most of his abilities he came up with a simple but easy solution. He waited until most of the time was up and found a suitable target, one of the instructors hidden in the exam. He used what he invented and called a third party substitution to switch his paper with the instructors. He was able to do the jutsu without hand seals and so that even when Ibiki looked at him for the small chakra surge the interrogator could not see what the Ne boy did.

"Now it is time for the tenth and final question," Ibiki started as Naruto spaced him out. He realized quickly though that the female member of his 'team' was about to eliminate them and ruin his assignment. With a flick of his wrist he sent a sebon into the girl's neck, thus immobilizing her. The whole room looked at her when she suddenly slumped to her desk. Everyone assumed she had fallen asleep from boredom and no else left.

"Fine, you all pass. The tenth question was to see if you had the guts to risk something of value to accomplish your goal, same thing a chunin would do when taking a mission. The other questions were to test how well you cheated and gathered information," Ibiki said. Suddenly a window burst in and unveiled a sign saying "Meet the proctor for the second exam. The single, sexy and loveable Anko Mitarashi!'Along with the sign came a purple haired kunoichi in a skirt and fishnet shirt with a trench coat on. She slowly scanned the room, noticing and avoiding Naruto, and looked towards Ibiki slightly peeved.

"Why the hell are there so many still here?"

"We have a good batch. That and a case of narcolepsy helped them pass."

"Well only half at most will make it past my test. Ok maggots; meet me at training ground 44 tomorrow at nine a.m. We will test you then, if you need directions take a look at the map in the hallway," and with a flourish she jumped out the window on her way to torture some poor civilian dango stand owners.

Naruto slowly got up and went over to Sakura. He removed the needle and hoisted her onto his shoulder and prepared to leave.

"Make sure she is alive after the next round, bouts of narcolepsy can be dangerous to a person's health," called Ibiki to him while smirking.

"I will make sure she survives the forest. If you have no more helpful advice I will be going now," said Naruto as he walked out the door. He dropped off Sakura at her house and left a note to explain where to go and what to bring the next day. He also explained his actions in the test so as not to cause her panic about what had occurred.

XXX

Ibiki walked into the jonin-sensei lounge to talk and announce who made it past the first round.

"The Konoha teams that passed are listed here," Ibiki said to the room and pointing at one list. "My assistant has taken the foreign list to where they are staying. Kakashi, I would like to talk to you." With that Ibiki left. Kakashi got to follow when one Asuma yelled out to him.

"Shouldn't you check if your team passed first?"

"Have you forgotten about my newest team member? He will pass the first and second exams and drag the others along. Past that he can't interfere and will probably forfeit," said Kakashi.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, forgot you had the super soldier," replied Asuma.

Kakashi left to go see Ibiki and found the man just outside the building walking towards the Hokage's tower.

"Do, what is this conversation of?"

"You know what it is about. That 'genin' you have attacked his teammate to ensure they passed."

"Which teammate and how?"

"The pink haired one. She was about to give up and he threw a needle into her neck causing her to pass out. That made everyone think she knew I was bluffing and there are now more teams in the second exam. You will need to talk to him about the fact that killing is allowed in the next part of the exam. Make sure he realizes he is not to attack Konoha shinobi unless first attacked."

"I will. I was going to his apartment after talking with the Hokage."

The two men made their way up into the Hokage's office and entered the door to see the blonde Hokage doing paperwork like normal except he was releasing an extraordinary amount of KI which was mainly directed at the stakes of paerwork he had to fill out. When the blonde looked up and saw who had entered his office the KI disappeared.

"What do I owe the pleasure of your company to?"

"Just informing you on how the test went," replied Ibiki. He then explained how many teams were left and who was passing on to the next round. The Hokage groaned when he heard how Team 7 had passed.

"He really doesn't show emotion. I mean harming your teammate like that. What am I to do with him," the Hokage asked rhetorically.

"I was going to speak with him on the subject of harming teammates and Konoha shinobi's after this meeting. I did want to ask you about that ice user from Nami though. I kind of forgot about it until just now," Kakashi replied sheepishly.

"She was handed over to the hospital a while ago and is undergoing therapy. She could be an active chunin in about six months. Her kekkei genkai will give her clan status if she wants and if she decides to have at least three children. Past that I don't know," said the Hokage.

"Ok, well I should be heading off to talk to Naruto," said Kakashi.

XXX

Naruto was sitting on his bed after he had finished packing. He had sealed everything he needed into several scrolls which he had then sealed into different parts of his clothing. He was contemplating on how to ensure the Uchiha got to the third round. He figure that the less people who pass would ensure that the Uchiha got to the third round with no preliminaries or one round of preliminaries. He detected his 'sensei' coming up the wall of his apartment to his window. He walked over and opened it as he got to the ledge.

"Naruto, why did you hit Sakura with that sebon?"

"I ensured the Uchiha passed. To do that I had to eliminate her possible desertion from the test."

"Fine, I understand. Killing will be allowed in the next exam. I am giving you an order to not injure any Konoha shinobi unless they attack your team. Any other teams are fair game, but please keep killing to a minimum. Konoha does not want rumors of us using the exams to eliminate the future of other villages."

"I understand. Killing will be kept to a minimum and only for non-Konoha shinobi."

"Good. Make sure you take care of your teammates," Kakashi said as he left.

Naruto just closed his window and began his sleep cycle.

XXX

Naruto arrived before any of the other applicants and seeded the area with special tracking devices that most would step on. He then sat down and waited for his team. Other teams showed up slowly. His teammates were some of the last to arrive; Sakura sent him a glare laced with a large amount of KI, for a genin that is.

"Alright maggots, listen to the rules so I can get out of here," yelled Anko as she shushined to the field. She noticed that the grey haired teen from the restaurant was not paying attention. She decided to have some fun and threw a kunai at him and proceeded to speed behind him in hopes of scaring him. She did not expect the kunai to travel through the illusionary clone he left behind and be caught by him while he stood behind her pointing her own kunai at her throat.

"Do not attack me if you do not wish to die," Naruto told her in his song like voice, getting a shivered and excited reply from Anko as he released her and gave her the kunai he sat back down to listen.

Anko quickly explained the rules of the test and handed out the waivers to the groups. Naruto and his group got a heaven scroll and went to their designated gate. All this was observed by a grass-nin who licked her lips in hunger.

XXX

Naruto had been travelling with his group for an hour into the forest when he finally stopped.

"We will head straight for the tower. I have been sending off clones to retrieve scrolls for us. If we get separated we will meet up there. You two will not engage anybody. This will ensure that you are well rested and prepared for the finals," Naruto stated. Sakura started swooning until Naruto pulsed his chakra to throw off the genjutsu on her.

"Who made you leader? I can take on most of these teams anyway," said the enraged Uchiha.

"I am leader because Kakashi told me about the exam and gave me a mission to make sure you pass this part. I am carrying out orders, nothing else," stated Naruto lied as he pulsed his charka again.

"Hn."

They walked for about another hour until a wind suddenly blew Naruto away. When Naruto landed he saw the snake summon lunge towards him. He merely jumped on top of the snake and rammed his fist into the snake's skull. Because of the chakra he put into the strike it disrupted the summoning and sent it back to its own plane of existence.

Naruto quickly leapt toward where he sensed his team and objective to be. He waited in the shadows until the Uchiha had been knocked out due to the pain of the now revealed Orochimaru. Naruto quickly jumped down and knocked out Sakura with a blow to the neck. He then faced the snake sannin before bowing.

"Orochimaru, I am to give you a message from my master."

"Oh, and who would your master be? Who could control someone with the potential to disperse my summons and hide very well from myself," hissed Orochimaru.

"My master is Danzo, I was ordered not to interfere with whatever you had planned during this exam. I am to ask if you wish for revenge on Konoha that you give me a date so that Danzo can help bring both your plans to fruition. After that I am to inform you that if you want the Uchiha he will be given over unto you," stated Naruto.

"Ku, ku, ku, so Danzo wants in on my plans. Tell Danzo that when the white feathers fall the plan is in motion. He can have all the survivors if he so chooses."

"I will tell my master. I will now be leaving with my 'team' to complete my task to make the Uchiha pass this test." With that Naruto got up and slipped away as two clones with his 'team' did the same. Orochimaru pondered if he could trust Danzo and decided that he could not. But he was intrigued by the quality of shinobi he produced if this 'Naruto' was any indication.

XXXXX

Sakura woke up with her body feeling as if it was being jarred. She found herself on her new team mates shoulder being carried like a sack of potatoes. She was going to scream for him to stop when he covered her mouth.

"We will stop in a moment. I will inform you of what happened then," his voice soothed her thoughts for a moment.

Indeed he did stop and set her down and another of him set down Sasuke. A third appeared and the first two disappeared.

"You were attacked by a missing-nin after Sasuke. He marked Sasuke and knocked you out with a clone. When I arrived he was retreating. We are headed for the tower. We will meet clones on the way there and get the required scroll. Sasuke will then be given treatment for what the nin did to him," Naruto spoke while continuously pulsing chakra to stop his voices affects on her.

Sakura nodded and got ready to move as Naruto made a clone to pick up Sasuke and they continued to the tower. It took them a good two hours to make it to the tower. By then Sakura was exhausted and at least 8 clones had come in with scrolls.

When the group entered the tower Naruto opened a single set of scrolls to activate the summoning. Kakashi appeared in an instant before them.

"Well you guys are three days before the deadline but not as fast as I would have thought. What happened to Sasuke?"

"Orochimaru attacked and marked Sasuke. By the time I responded and recovered from the summon he sent after me both of them were knocked out and Orochimaru was retreating," spoke Naruto.

"Shit. Ok you guys will go through those doors and find a place to rest until the exam is over. I'll take Sasuke for treatment," said Kakashi as he grabbed the young teen and left, never noticing the worried look on Sakura's face.

XXX

It had been one day since Team 7 had made it to the tower and Naruto was called in to see the Hokage. He recounted the story as he explained to Kakashi and waited for the Hokage's ruling.

"While the fact that Orochimaru was not accounted for you did not fully succeed in your task. But I am willing to give you the promotion if you continue to fight in the third part of the exam. I know that you probably would just forfeit since you would already have the promotion but the 'do not kill order' is still in affect when facing Konoha shinobi. Other than that, as long as you complete the test with one win you will be chunin."

"Thank you Hokage-sama. I will endeavor to try harder to prevent such a happening again."

XXXXX

AN: Next up is the prelims-if any-and month training.

Poll ends monday


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own Naruto.

XXXXX

Naruto stood in the tower listening to the announcement of how the preliminaries would occur. Because of the Hokage's rule he would have to fight and win one match in the tournament and could not simply forfeit and get his rank. The Hokage probably wanted him to fight so that he would reveal some of his abilities. Naruto would limit himself obviously but it would lead to some problems if he fought a tough opponent.

Since no genin gave up everyone would be paired up until there were only three left. Those three would fight in one match. When the sickly proctor showed the board that determined the matches Naruto immediately realized the matches were rigged.

The first match was between the Uchiha and some shinobi that sucked chakra from him. It was a fairly easy match for the Uchiha since Kakashi had sealed the curse mark which allowed him to utilize his chakra and therefore his sharingan. He finished with some taijutsu he had copied but not fully mastered from the spandex wearing genin. Overall it was a pitiful match as both sides had made numerous mistakes that in Ne would get you killed.

Many of the remaining matches were equally pathetic. The blonde from Asuma Sarutobi's team faced his other 'teammate' and both were thoroughly humiliated by their performance. The puppeteer and the human bendy straw showed some shinobi qualities with the puppeteers deception which resulted in the others poisoning. The Hyuga prodigy demolished the Oto-nin that shot air waves from his arms but it was to flashy according to the Ne trained operative. The Aburame showed skill when he quickly negated the Oto kunoichi's bell illusions and drained her chakra reserves.

One match that truly impressed him though was the match between Rock Lee and Gaara. While the match didn't show much finesse it did show raw power. He realized that Gaara posed a threat to him if they fought. He knew he could kill the other demon host but he also realized that his skills would be displayed to the world.

When Kabuto faced off against the Akimichi it was clear to Naruto that Kabuto held back and lost on purpose. He gave a decent performance but subtle twitches and body language spoke volumes of how much he held back in the fight. The Nara got stuck fighting a bun haired kunoichi and when significant weapons were thrown had caught her in his shadow. He then mimed picking up a weapon near him while the girl did the same and held it to her throat until she yielded. The last match before the three way fight was the last Oto-nin versus the shy Hyuga. It was pathetically simple as Oto-nin did not expect the timid little girl to turn frosty as she pummeled him into the ground. It was obvious that she had been holding back.

The three way fight would commence between the Suna kunoichi, the Inuzuka and himself it seemed. He would end it as soon as he could while only using abilities the Hokage knew about. Kakashi did come up to him to remind him that he was not to kill either of his opponents as one was from Konoha and the other was from an allied state.

When the proctor started the match he quickly started talking while actively lacing chakra into his words which enhanced its normal effect from just females to anyone he wanted.

"We should team up against the mutt. Since he has the dog he could out number either one of us by himself," he made his genjutsu voice say to the kunoichi while at the same time the voice said "We need to take out the long range woman and then we can concentrate on each other ok," towards the Inuzuka who's dog had created a copy of him.

As the others began to attack each other he laid his trap and waited to spring it. His chance came when the kunoichi tried to jump towards him to regroup away from the dog handler. When she did this he quickly stuck a needle into her neck, thus rendering her unconscious. When that was done he leapt at the Inuzuka.

The other boy was caught off guard with a jab to the face that sent him into the wall. Naruto then twisted and caught the fist sent at him by the disguised dog and pulled him a head lock. He disrupted the technique used to make the clone and held up the white puppy in front of him, showing the dazed shinobi.

"You will surrender if you want the dog to live. I have been ordered not to kill or harm other Konoha shinobi or our allied shinobi. That does not mean I cannot kill your 'pet'. Surrender and no more harm will come to it," Naruto said, all the while lacing one final illusion on the Inuzuka who was now enraged.

The other boy did as Naruto planned and charged him. Naruto merely sidestepped and allowed the illusion make the boy to hit his own dog, which resulted in the dog hitting the wall with a sickening snap in its hind quarters. When the boy realized what happened he froze, giving Naruto ample opportunity to jab a needle into his neck.

With both opponents unconscious Naruto was called the winner. This was met with some indignant protests about his brutality.

"I was not brutal. If I had been then neither would be alive," Naruto stated calmly as he burst his chakra to dispel any remaining illusions caused by his voice.

XXXXX

The Hokage had informed them of the month long break and showed who would be fighting each other. 1) Naruto vs. Gaara, 2) Hinata vs. Choji, 3) Sasuke vs. Neji, and 4) Shino vs. Shikimaru. Kankuro would fight the winner of match one.

Naruto had informed Danzo of what happened in the forest and was dismissed with mission to win his one match to gain rank and then wait for further instructions. He had a month to prepare to fight his opponent. Kakashi was training the Uchiha since Naruto did not need it and the other was not in the finals. Danzo though had given him a few scrolls to look through and several ideas for training. Most of the scrolls just talked about famous jutsu from famous shinobi. Danzo most likely wanted him to think of how to recreate a few of the jutsu so that he could display the strength of Ne shinobi.

Naruto would do this for his master and would kill the Hokage when asked.

XXXX

AN: sorry it is so short. I am having some writers block.


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own Naruto.

XXXXX

Naruto had slipped away from his ANBU detail for most of the month to study what Danzo had given him and perfect moves he would reveal during the invasion. He had a few new jutsu but had mainly focused on preparing his body for his fight with the Suna weapon. He knew he would have to reveal more skill and so prepared what he would show and what he would not.

XXXX

The crowd was anxious for the fights. Many realized that these would be fights to remember but most didn't realize why it would be so. The contestants were lined up on the floor of the arena and there was a general murmur of discourse that the Uchiha heir was not present yet. The new proctor, who Naruto recognized as Genma, reminded everyone of the rules and asked everyone who was not fighting to leave to the contestant box. The only ones left on the floor were Genma, Naruto, and Gaara.

"Mother will have your blood. You enrage mother with your existence," said Gaara.

Naruto stood there impassively until Genma called the match to begin. He raced towards Gaara trying to get past the sand shield. Seeing that his speed was sufficient he quickly speed towards the still motionless Gaara and tried a jab to the face. The shield came up in time to block. Naruto jumped away and proceeded to try some genjutsu since Gaara couldn't guard against that so easily.

Gaara suddenly felt his world tilting out of balance and felt his head swim in unfamiliar ways. But as soon as it happened it was gone thanks to his mother pumping in more chakra.

Naruto saw his illusion take effect for a moment but felt the demonic chakra spike and his illusion vanish in an instant. He frowned at how his efforts so far seemed to have little effect. He backed away from the sand tendrils reaching for him and began doing some one handed seals in each hand. As he finished he brought on hand to his mouth and placed another on the ground. A muddy dragon grew from the hand on the earth and a flaming dragon from his mouth. The two jutsu quickly combine and the resulting lava dragon is launched at the Suna-nin.

Gaara's sand quickly forms a shield around him and tries to hold back the force of the attack. He is quickly surrounded by the lava and is completely encased in his sand bubble.

Naruto hand done some quick seal for a water jutsu and had cooled the lava into a solidified mass that trapped his opponent. He knew the match was not over but was planning on how to use the Suna-nins disorientation to best effect. As he felt the chakra spike in the arena he quickly pulled out a scroll and started to write as a massive sand ball rose out of the lava while being held up by more sand. As the sand ball exposed Gaara Naruto saw a very crazy looking glint from said boy.

Sand tendrils shot towards Naruto as he continued to write. He suddenly stopped and dodged the sand coming towards him. While jumping around the arena to avoid the sand many of the more experienced shinobi in the crowd saw him placing tags on the walls. Naruto finally got back to where he originally was and stopped while going through a large number of hand seals.

Minato Gasped as he recognized the hand seal sequence. It was the same sequence his predecessor used to save the village, the _Shiki Fūjin_. What was the Ne operative doing he wondered. Then he realized that Naruto was repeating the sequence again and adding several new seals into the technique and he wondered what it could possibly mean.

XXFlashbackXXX

Naruto was now receiving his updated orders from Danzo. The message stated that Orochimaru would not honor his deal and so Ne would betray his plan while coming clean to the shinobi of Konoha and show how much more powerful Ne agents were to all other shinobi in the area. To do this Naruto was required to show very powerful attacks in the three major fields but also ensure the complete elimination of the Suna weapon by coming up with a permanent sealing technique to use on the one known as Gaara.

This would be used to show that even other nation's demonic weapons would not stand in front of Konoha's superiority but also cause a panic that they had produced another seal prodigy. It would also further show the superiority of Ne operatives and their training.

XXXFlashback endXXX

"Hijutsu: Shi-ru no Toarppu (Secret art: Seal trap)," cried Naruto for the whole stadium to hear. The twenty or so seals that Naruto had placed around the arena glowed and everyone could see beams of chakra connect them together and form a barrier around the entire sealing area. The barrier quickly collapsed until it came into contact with Gaara's body. Gaara screamed as the barrier formed a shell around him and seals began to be written upon him person.

"Owari (close)," saidNaruto. The barrier and newly written seals on Gaara's body glowed and then collapsed. Gaara's crumpled form dropped with his sand totally inert.

Naruto picked up all his supplies and walked towards Gaara. He stepped in front of him and put a knife to his throat and drew a little blood to show that the sand was no longer protecting him. When Genma saw that Gaara was defenseless and no longer fighting he called the match.

The crowd was stunned. This nobody came out and defeated the son of a Kage. That was beside the fact that most didn't know he was a demon container. Also this kid had come up with a new sealing ritual that seemed to leave the opponent at the mercy of the one who did the ritual. This new sealing attack was one of the most impressive feats anyone had seen in several years and no knew the exact mechanics of the ritual or what state his opponent was left in.

XXX

Hinata's match was mainly about Hinata dodging the rolling ball that was Choji as he himself dodged her Gentle Fist strikes when he wasn't in his ball form. Eventually Hinata's superior control and less wasteful movement won out to Choji's strength and he was incapacitated.

The match that many people had wanted to see had finally come. The match between the Hyuga prodigy and the last Uchiha was set to be an enormous boon for the village in terms of money raised from the gambling dens. After several minutes of waiting for the wayward Uchiha he finally showed up with his instructor.

Once the referee started the match there were several claims back and forth about each other's superiority. The Uchiha came in close to test out Neji's close combat skills and his knew speed technique that Kakashi had shown him but found he was barely dodging the strikes he knew would cripple him if he was struck by them. He went to back up but was not given the chance as Neji tried his 32 palm attack. Sasuke dodged a good portion of the attacks but was still struck enough times to hurt him. Sasuke could not call up his chakra in a good part of his body and realized he needed to win this in the next few moves or he would lose and he had to do it without jutsu since he could not form hand seals. He was screwed and so he bit back his pride and was prepared to forfeit when feathers started to fall and explosions were heard.

The invasion had started.

XXXX

AN: alright about the fights. I know that I could have gone into more detail about the last two fights but didn't because they are not as important to the story.

About the fight between Neji and Sasuke not ending that way here is my opinion on it.

1)Sasuke always goes for close combat first, even when he should keep his distance.

2)Neji is use to fighting Lee at close range and would be use to whatever speed techniques Sasuke used.

3)Neji would know that jutsu is his disadvantage and so when Sasuke charged close he would try everything to eliminate him fast and keep Sasuke in his grasp.


	8. Chapter 8

I don't own Naruto.

XXXXX

Minato was not having a good day. He found out the Kazekage had led Suna into an invasion of Konoha along with the new village Oto. He then finds out that the Kazekage is really Orochimaru and that he still hates him for becoming Hokage, which was kind of pitiful in his mind. He also hated that he was trapped in a box with the psychopath. He really hated that this would probably when Ne betrayed him also.

He did notice though that Orochimaru seemed a bit shocked at something but figured something had gone wrong with his plan.

XXXX

Naruto cut a swath of destruction through the Oto ranks as he headed toward the purple chakra barrier that had been erected. What others saw as a simple palm strike or punch left many dead enemies on the ground. He got to the barrier just in time to see an unfortunate ANBU try to get through it and instead burn to death. With the smell of charred flesh in the background he approached the captain of the squad.

"I need you to cover me if you want to get through that barrier," he spoke.

"And how are you going to get through?" asked the man in a calm manner.

"I need to modify some chakra draining tags to work on the barrier instead of human flesh, it will take a bit of time but with enough tags we will drain the four instigators of their chakra and the barrier will fall," Naruto said as he took out some ink and multiple brushes. At the same time he also pulled about twenty chakra draining tags from his belt. He created enough clones for all the tags and brushes and began his task while the ANBU made sure nothing came near him.

In two minutes the clones had altered all the seals and the ANBU had started throwing them onto the barrier. Naruto was impressed that the four Oto-nin lasted until 12 tags had been placed. The typical shinobi could only stand one or maybe two tags before losing use of their chakra. As the barrier fell several ANBU squads rushed to the barrier holders to make sure they could not interfere as Naruto and another squad rushed to the Yondaime's side.

Seeing that everything was going horrible and that he was in trouble if he didn't leave Orochimaru fled with three of his subordinates while the female was left behind.

XXXX

Suna and Oto had no idea what had gone wrong with their plan. The summon creatures that were suppose to brake the walls and gates were not there. The main force was still outside the walls and could not breach or get over the walls and more of Konoha's defenders were joining people on the walls by the second. Worse of all many of the shinobi had been delayed or ambushed when on their way from their separate camp sites to the rendezvous points for the assault. The original force that was attacking from outside the arena numbered in at around 1500 shinobi; of those about 1000 of them were from Suna, all jonin or very experienced chunin and 500 from Oto that while proclaimed to be jonin or chunin were much weaker in fact. But by the time they had gotten to their attack positions only about 60% of the force remained and that was before the signal to attack.

Seeing that they were losing in a very major way and that more Konoha shinobi seemed to be appearing on the walls the leaders of the Suna contingent withdrew with about half their original number. The Oto-nin's withdrew soon after when it was apparent they could not win and they had lost nearly 5/6 of their entire number.

As both groups left they were pursued mercilessly by some figures in the shadows. Many more of both allies fell to the mysterious group before they reached the borders to their countries.

XXXX

"Ok, will someone tell me what happened today?" the Hokage asked.

"I believe I can if you lift the ban you place on the council's knowledge of certain subjects," replied Danzo in front of the assembled council. Many of the councilors were wondering what was going on.

"I don't think this is the time or place for that plus it is suppose to remain classified," the blonde replied.

"It is already coming out slowly so why not open it up plus it will explain everything that happened," replied Danzo.

"Fine. Perhaps it is for the best," said the Hokage.

"Right after the Kyuubi attack the Hokage allowed me to start up Ne again. This was to boost our forces and ensure that our enemies concentrated elsewhere instead of upon our weakness at the time. I was instructed to recruit from every place possible. Teams were sent out and orphans and children were kidnapped from wherever they were and brought back for training. One of the stipulations was that any person that reached 16 would be integrated into the normal ANBU program and into the normal shinobi forces from there. I have estimated that my group has completed half the missions that Konoha normally does with better efficiency. Many of the best ANBU in the village are recent Ne operatives that were reinstituted into Konoha's formal structure. By this program we have upped trade by approximately 8% annually with the elimination of bandits and other predators. We have decreased the missing-nin population by 16%. Konoha has also received several new kekkei genkai to the village and once they are done with service under my stewardship I believe they could start new clans or families. The crowning achievement in all of this was the invasion that just took place. Using Ne we beat two other villages and destroyed a potential threat in the demon container of Suna," Danzo spoke to the now stunned crowd.

"And why was I not informed of the invasion?" asked the Hokage.

"We had information that there was a leak in your office and we had found out the fact of the invasion a day before. I figured that my group could handle the delaying process until Konoha's regular forces responded and we also took out the summoning teams that would have provided entry points into the village. Through traps and ambushes and guerilla tactics my forces achieved 90% of the kills made outside of the stadium and in the process only lost three due to death and eight to permanent injury. We could have been crippled by the invasion but instead we appear stronger than ever with most of our shinobi forces alive and ready for missions."

"You say that your forces stopped Gaara. Does that mean that Naruto is Ne? If so why is he in the exams?" asked Shikaku Nara.

"He had been recently handed over to the Hokage for placement. I believe he was to act as a body guard for the Uchiha heir. I had contacted him before the finals and asked him to find a way to take out Suna's weapon. While at the time I did not know of the invasion but I believed that Suna would eventually fight us and so I wanted to destroy their trump card before they could play it. I figured Naruto's match against him was the perfect opportunity. While he did not kill the container I assume that was because he was ordered not to kill allies, which Suna were at the time."

"How is it that he is so good at seals to come up with that technique?" asked Hiashi.

"In Ne we train our troops in every subject area, not just the most well known. If they show particular strengths in an area then we encourage further study then what is called for in those areas. If they are very adept at their chosen field we ask them to stay on as trainers for the next batch of recruits when they reach the age to leave. Naruto was to be a seal and ninjutsu teacher, although he had several other areas he could have taught, until the Hokage asked for him to be reassigned. Also, is he to be promoted? I do like to watch out for my former students and subordinates."

"I had thought of it and he has surpassed the requirements I set out for him so I believe that he will if the council approves," at which point nearly everyone did. "I would like to keep him assigned to Kakashi's team though. This will provide extra incentive for the others on the team to work hard but also they would have ample protection for the Uchiha heir," replied the Yondaime.

The council all nodded in agreement to the wise idea until one of them spoke up from the civilian side.

"I would like to see Uzumaki-san's seal training advance and I believe that it is difficult for that to happen if he is not taken under a seal master's wing. I was wondering if either you or maybe Jiriaya-sama would take an apprentice in this area."

"I had not thought about it in those terms but you are probably correct. With my time spent in the office though it would not be good for him. I will see if sensei can take him though. If that is all I would like to remind everyone that the news about Ne is for your ears only. I will personally fill in the proper jonin and chunin. Results for what little of the exam that took place will be posted in a few days time."

XXXX

"Fucking hell. That bastard knew about this and didn't tell me," the Hokage ranted in front of Kakashi and Ibiki.

"What do we do now?" asked Kakashi.

"We slow down the investigation. I know we don't want to but it is for the best, he has too much political weight to throw around right now. For the way his forces handled the invasion he could probably slit a civilian's throat and people would still forgive him. I'll try and get Jiriaya to take Naruto as an apprentice so that he can be both monitored in his progress and acting more human," the blonde said while calming down.

"Is it wise to give him such an opportunity for power?" asked Ibiki.

"Maybe not but I'll send for Tsunade so that we can get a better read on what was done to him and the other Ne operatives. Plus she could get our medical staff back into gear," Minato said.

XXXX

AN: hope it was good.


End file.
